When Dr. Saunders decided to build his Flatiron Building on the
southwest corner of Ninth and Houston he reserved the top
floor for his office and hired the best architectural firm in Fort
Worth, Sanguinet and Staats, of the Hozie Building,
Seventh and Main.
Marshal R. Sanguinet and Carl G. Staats envisioned a 10-story
building at first but the Panic of 1907 forced them to trim
their sails. Nevertheless, work began on schedule for Saunders'
Triangle Building, as it was first known, and before long the
girders were rising and neighboring merchants were protesting. A
seven-story building, they complained, would cast a shadow
over Fort Worth's entire downtown.
Mayor T. J. Powell, a Fort Worth Gazette reporter who had become an
attorney, soothed the protesters. Just think, he told
them, of the publicity the new skyscraper would bring to Fort Worth.
Imagine-a building in Fort Worth taller than anything in
Dallas! The grumbles subsided, but not until Alderman Jake F. Zurn,
city passenger agent for the Texas & Pacific Railway,
cautioned Police Chief J. H. Maddox to keep a sharp eye on the
construction site to make sure that the lofty girders did not
topple in a norther. Maddox promised to do so.
The building can be categorized as "Renaissance Revival" in
style. The architect used the classic division of a two story base
which supports a five story body capped by a well-proportioned
cornice. The East and West facade are divided into six bays by piers
carried uninterrupted to arches at the top level, which emphasizes
the height in the manner of the architecture of Louis Sullivan. The
building is ornamented with contrasting brick lozenges and there are
"Modernistic" designs at the second and top story. The cornice is of
cast iron and is heavily ornamented.
Report upon the Architectural Significance of
the Flatiron Building, Fort Worth, Texas
Prepared for Ambrose Properties, Inc. April
18, 1988 by Willard B. Robinson, Architect/Architectural Historian
The design of the Flatiron Building incorporated
both technology and design principles developed at the end of the
nineteenth century by a coterie of Chicago, Illinois, architects
known as the Chicago School, who had been innovators in the
development of high-rise buildings. Allowing optimum speed of
construction, a skeletal framework of steel I-beams and columns
carried the interiors of the floors. Conforming to developments in
Chicago with respect to fire-resistive construction, reinforced
concrete was employed for the floors. Concrete also insulated the
beams against fire―a construction
technique developed in Chicago after the
disastrous
fire of 1871.
In Fort Worth, the
Flatiron Building also embodies principles of design followed
by Chicago School architects. Unobstructed floor areas which could
be flexibly divided into offices had proved to be sound investments.
Large windows with plate glass provided both good natural light and
efficient cross ventilation. Transoms over office doors facilitated
air circulation and allowed light into the corridors.
Another important principle of design followed by
the Chicago architects was that enhancement of public spaces
attracted clients, thereby justifying expense of ornamentation. The
elevator lobby of the Flatiron, with its handsome Classical details,
ceramic tile floor, and marble wainscoting, as well as the ornate
iron work of the elevator, reflects this practice. From the street
and sidewalk this elegant public space is formally announced by
a portal, enhanced by surrounding fretwork and a simple pediment.
The exterior design of the Flatiron Building
clearly typified principles of design followed by Chicago School
architects, yet it is an exceptional work, representative of a high
level of development in commercial building design. In composition
it echoes philosophy on form and function in high-rise buildings
pronounced by Louis Sullivan, one of America's premier architects.
As advocated by Sullivan, the bottom two stories of the Flatiron are
expressed as a base, containing one kind of function; above this the
walls rise without interruption, since the function of office space
does not change; finally the top terminates boldly at a wide
pressed metal cornice indicated the attic space. The seventh floor
where Dr. Saunders maintained his offices was emphasized by a range
of arches.
Then the pattern of the exterior emphasizes the
essential character of the tall building, also conforming to
Sullivan's ideas. The verticality characteristic of the sky scraper
is dramatized by wide piers with deeply recessed spandrels. The
pier-spandrel design recalls the
Wainwright Building in St. Louis,
now a
National Landmark, while the ornamentation at the springline of the
arches which they support as somewhat reminiscent in principle of
that of the Auditorium in Chicago, also designed by Sullivan.
The ornamentation of the Flatiron also fulfills
another of Sullivan's dicta calling for a special kind of ornament
for a particular type of building. Seeing the high-rise structure as
bold and masculine in character, the designer of the Flatiron
developed a crisp and strong geometric theme for the ornamentation
which provided distinction and emphasized the importance of the
structure. Carved into limestone, thereby setting it off from the
brick walls, it incorporates circle, square, double- square,
and triangular motifs, all of which relate to harmonic proportions
of the larger components. The intricacy of this ornamentation has
caused some historians to mislabel the style as Renaissance Revival;
it is more accurately classified as a product of Chicago School or
as Sullivanesque in style.
Yet other ornamentation contributes to the beauty
of the Flatiron. Squares, set askew to the vertical lines appear in
the spandrels. Also noteworthy is brick corbelling supporting the
legs extending downward from arch imposts and the basked weave
pattern at the top of the piers at the second story. Carved
sculptural work integrated into the limestone caps at this location
are subtle accents. Finally, carved bosses depicting lion's heads
[panthers] symbols of strength and virility--add interest. At one
time holding iron rings, these are linked together by fine cable
moldings. |
